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VIII. DEMOSTHENES.

DEMOSTHENES, the son of Demosthenes by Cleobule, the
daughter of Gylon, was a Paeanian by descent. He was
left an orphan by his father, when he was but seven years
old, together with a sister of the age of five. Being kept
by his mother during his nonage, he went to school to Isocrates, say some; but the generality are of opinion that he
was pupil to Isaeus the Chalcidian, who lived in Athens
and was Isocrates's scholar. He imitated Thucydides and
Plato, and some affirm that he more especially attended the
school of Plato. Hegesias the Magnesian writes, that he
entreated his master's leave to go to hear Callistratus the
son of Empaedus, an Amphidnean, a noble orator, and
sometime commander of a troop of horse, who had dedicated an altar to Mercury Agoraeos, and was to make an
oration to the people. And when he heard him, he
became a lover of oratory, and so long as he continued
at Athens, remained his disciple.

But Callistratus being soon banished to Thrace, and
Demosthenes arrived at some years of maturity, he joined
with Isocrates and Plato. After this, he took Isaeus into
his house, and for the space of four years labored very
hard in imitation of his orations. Though Ctesibius in
his book of philosophy affirms that, by the help of Callias
the Syracusan, he got the orations of Zoilus the Amphipolite, and by the assistance of Charicles the Carystian
those also of Alcidamas, and devoted himself to the imitation of them. When he came to age, in the year of Timocrates1 he called his tutors and guardians to account for
their maladministration, in not allowing him what was
fitting and requisite out of his estate. And these tutors or
guardians were three, Aphobus, Therippides, and Demophbn (or Demeas), the last of whom, being his uncle, he
[p. 44]
charged more severely than the other two. He arrested
each of them in an action of ten talents, and cast them,
but did not exact of them what the law had given him,
releasing some for money and others for favor.

When Aristophon, by reason of his age, could not hold
the office any longer, he was chosen choregus, or overseer
of the dances. During the execution of which office,
Midias the Anagyrasian striking him as he was ordering
the dances in the theatre, he sued him upon it, but let
fall his suit upon Midias's paying him three thousand
drachms.

It is reported of him that, while he was a youth, he
confined himself to a den or cave, and there studied his
orations, and shaved half of his head that he might not be
allured to divert himself from it; and that he lay upon a
very narrow bed, that he might awake and rise the sooner.
And for that he could not very well pronounce the letter
R, he accustomed himself very much to that, that he might
master it if possible; and using likewise an unseemly
motion of his shoulder when he spake at any time, he
remedied that by a spit (or, as some say, a sword) stuck in
the ceiling just over his shoulder, that the fear of being
pricked with it might break him of that indecent gesture. They report of him further that, when he could
declaim pretty well, he had a sort of mirror made as big
as himself, and used always in declaiming to look in that,
to the end that he might see and correct what was amiss.
He used likewise at some certain times to go down to the
Phalerian shore, to the end that, being accustomed to the
surges and noise of the waves, he might not be daunted
by the clamors of the people, when he should at any time
declaim in public. And being naturally short-winded, he
gave Neoptolemus a player ten thousand drachms to teach
him to pronounce long sentences in one breath.

Afterwards, betaking himself to the affairs of the commonwealth,
[p. 45]
and finding the people divided into two different factions, one in favor of Philip, and the other standing
for the liberty and properties of the people, he took part
with them that opposed Philip, and always persuaded the
citizens to help those who were in danger and trouble by
Philip's oppression; taking for his companions in council
Hyperides, Nausicles, Polyeuctus, and Diotimus; and then
he drew the Thebans, Euboeans, Corcyraeans, Corinthians,
Boeotians, and many more into a league with the Athenians. Being in the assembly one day and his memory
failing him, his oration was hissed; which made him return
home very heavy and melancholy; and being met by Eunomus the Thriasian, an old man, by him he was comforted
and encouraged. But he was chiefly animated by Andronicus the player, who told him that his orations were
excellent, but that he wanted something of action, thereupon rehearsing certain places out of his oration which
he had delivered in that same assembly. Unto which
Demosthenes gave good ear and credit, and he then betook himself to Andronicus. And therefore, when he was
afterwards asked what was the first part of oratory, he
answered, ‘Action;’ and which was the second, he replied, ‘Action;’ and which was the third, he still answered, ‘Action.’ Another time, declaiming publicly, and
using expressions too youthful for one of his years and
gravity, he was laughed at, and ridiculed by the comedians,
Antiphanes and Timocles, who in derision used to repeat
such phrases as these, as uttered by him:

By the earth, by the fountains, by the rivers, by the floods!

For having sworn thus in presence of the people, he raised
a tumult about him. He likewise used to swear by
Asclepius, and accented the second syllable (᾿Ασκλήπιος）2
through some mistake, and yet afterwards defended it; for
[p. 46]
this Asclepius, he said, was called ἤπιος, that is a mild God.
This also often caused him to be interrupted. But all
these things he reformed in time, being sometime conversant with Eubulides, the Milesian philosopher. Being on a time present at the Olympic games, and hearing
Lamachus the Myrrhinaean sound the praises of Philip and
of Alexander the Great, his son, and decry the cowardice
of the Thebans and Olynthians, he stood up in their defence against him, and from the ancient poets he proclaimed the great and noble achievements of the Thebans
and Olynthians; and so elegantly he behaved himself in
this affair, that he at once silenced Lamachus, and made
him convey himself immediately out of the assembly. And
even Philip himself, when he had heard what harangues
he made against him, replied, that if he had heard him, he
should have chosen him general in the war against himself.
He was used to compare Demosthenes's orations to soldiers,
for the force they carried along with them; but the orations of Isocrates to fencers, because of the theatrical
delight that accompanied them.

Being about the age of seven and thirty, reckoning from
Dexitheus to Callimachus,3—in whose time the Olynthians
sent to beg aid of the Athenians against Philip, who then
made war upon them,—he persuaded them to answer the
Olynthians' request; but in the following year, in which
Plato died,4 Philip overthrew and destroyed the Olynthians. Xenophon also, the scholar of Socrates, had some
knowledge of Demosthenes, either at his first rise, or at
least when he was most famous and flourishing; for he
wrote the Acts of the Greeks, as touching what passed at
the battle of Mantinea, in the year of Chariclides;5 our
Demosthenes having sometime before overthrown his guardians in a suit he had commenced against them, in the
year of Timocrates. When Aeschines, being condemned,
[p. 47]
fled from Athens, Demosthenes hearing of it took horse
and rode after him; which Aeschines understanding, and
fearing to be apprehended again, he came out to meet Demosthenes, and fell at his feet, covered his face, and begged
his mercy; upon which Demosthenes bid him stand up,
be assured of his favor, and as a pledge of it, gave him a
talent of silver. He advised the people to maintain a
company of mercenary soldiers in Thasos, and thither
sailed himself as captain of the galleys. Another time,
being entrusted to buy corn, he was accused of defrauding
the city, but cleared himself of the accusation and was
acquitted. When Philip had seized upon Elatea, Demosthenes with others went to the war of Chaeronea, where he
is said to have deserted his colors; and flying away, a bramble caught hold of his vest behind, when turning about in
haste, thinking an enemy had overtaken him, he cried out,
Save my life, and say what shall be my ransom. On his
buckler he had engraven for his motto, To Good Fortune.
And it was he that made the oration at the funerals of
such as died in that battle.

After these things, he bent his whole care and study for
the reparation of the city and wall; and being chosen
commissary for repairing the walls, besides what money
he expended out the city stock, he laid out of his own at
least a hundred minas. And besides this, he gave ten
thousand drachms to the festival fund; and taking ship,
he sailed from coast to coast to collect money of the allies;
for which he was often by Demotelus, Aristonicus, and
Hyperides crowned with golden crowns, and afterwards
by Ctesiphon. Which last decree had like to have been
retracted, Diodotus and Aeschines endeavoring to prove it
to be contrary to the laws; but he defended himself so
well against their allegations, that he overcame all difficulties, his enemies not having the fifth part of the votes of
the judges.

[p. 48]
After this, when Alexander the Great made his expedition into Asia, and Harpalus fled to Athens with a great
sum of money, at first he would not let him be entertained,
but afterwards, Harpalus being landed and having given
him a thousand darics he was of another mind; and when
the Athenians determined to deliver Harpalus up to Antipater, he opposed it, proposing to deposit the money in
the Citadel, still without declaring the amount to the people.
Thereupon Harpalus declared that he had brought with
him from Asia seven hundred talents, and that this sum had
been deposited in the Citadel; but only three hundred and
fifty or a little more could be found, as Philochorus relates.
But when Harpalus broke out of the prison wherein he
was kept till some person should come from Alexander,
and was escaped into Crete,—or, as some will have it,
into Taenarum in Laconia,—Demosthenes was accused
that he had received from him a sum of money, and that
therefore he had not given a true account of the sum delivered to him, nor had impeached the negligence of the
keepers. So he was judicially cited by Hyperides, Pytheus, Menesaechmus, Himeraeus, and Patrocles, who
prosecuted him so severely as to cause him to be condemned in the court of Areopagus; and being condemned,
he went into exile, not being able to pay fivefold; for he
was accused of receiving thirty talents. Others say, that
he would not run the risk of a trial, but went into banishment before the day came. After this tempest was over,
when the Athenians sent Polyeuctus to the republic of
Arcadia to draw them off from the alliance with the Macedonians, he not succeeding, Demosthenes appeared to
second him, where he reasoned so effectually that he easily
prevailed. Which procured him so much credit and esteem,
that after some time a galley was dispatched to call him
home again. And the Athenians decreed that, whereas he
owed the state thirty talents, as a fine laid on him for the
[p. 49]
misdemeanor he was accused of, he should be excused for
only building an altar to Jupiter Servator in the Piraeus;
which decree was first proposed by Demon his near kinsman. This being agreed on, he returned to the administration of affairs in the commonwealth again.

But when Antipater was blocked up in Lamia, and the
Athenians offered sacrifices for the happy news, he happened, being talking with Agesistratus, one of his intimate
friends, to say, that his judgment concerning the state of
affairs did not jump with other men's, for that he knew
the Greeks were brisk and ready enough to run a short
course but not to hold on a long race. When Antipater
had taken Pharsalus, and threatened to besiege Athens itself if they refused to deliver up such orators as had declaimed against him, Demosthenes, suspecting himself to
be one of the number, left the city, and fled first into
Aegina, that he might take sanctuary in the temple of
Aeacus; but being afraid to trust himself long there, he
went over to Calauria; and when the Athenians had decreed to deliver up those orators, and him especially as one
of them, he continued a suppliant in the temple of Neptune. When Archias came thither,—who, from his office
of pursuing fugitives, was called Phygadotheres and was
the scholar of Anaximines the orator,—when he, I say,
came to him, and persuaded him to go with him, telling
him that no doubt he should be received by Antipater as a
friend, he replied: When you played a part in a tragedy,
you could not persuade me to believe you the person you
represented; no more shall you now persuade me by your
counsel. And when Archias endeavored to force him
thence, the townsmen would not suffer it. And Demosthenes told them, that he did not flee to Calauria to save
his life, but that he might convince the Macedonians of
their violence committed even against the Gods themselves.
And with that he called for a writing-table; and if we may
[p. 50]
credit Demetrius the Magnesian, on that he wrote a distich,
which afterwards the Athenians caused to be affixed to his
statue; and it was to this purpose:

Hadst thou, Demosthenes, an outward force
Great as thy inward magnanimity,
Greece should not wear the Macedonian yoke.

This statue, made by Polyeuctus, is placed near the
cloister where the altar of the twelve Gods is erected.
Some say this writing was found: ‘Demosthenes to Antipater, Greeting.’ Philochorus tells us that he died by
drinking of poison; and Satyrus the historiographer will
have it, that the pen was poisoned with which he wrote his
epistle, and putting it into his mouth, soon after he tasted
it he died. Eratosthenes is of another opinion, that being
in continual fear of the Macedonians, he wore a poisoned
bracelet on his arms. Others say again, that he died with
holding his breath; and others, lastly, say that he carried
strong poison in his signet. He lived to the age of seventy,
according to those who give the highest number,—of
sixty-seven, according to other statements. And he was in
public life two and twenty years.

When King Philip was dead, he appeared publicly in a
glorious robe or mantle, as rejoicing for his death, though
he but just before mourned for his daughter. He assisted
the Thebans likewise against Alexander, and animated all
the other Greeks. So that when Alexander had conquered
Thebes, he demanded Demosthenes of the Athenians,
threatening them if they refused to deliver him. When he
went against Persia, demanding ships of the Athenians, Demosthenes opposed it, saying, who can assure us that he will
not use those ships we should send him against ourselves?

He left behind him two sons by one wife, the daughter
of one Heliodorus, a principal citizen. He had but one
daughter, who died unmarried, being but a child. A sister
too he had, who married with Laches of Leuconoe, his
[p. 51]
kinsman, and to him bore Demochares, who proved inferior
to none in his time for eloquence, conduct, and courage.
His statue is still standing in the Prytaneum, the first on
the right as you approach the altar, clothed with a mantle
and girt with a sword, because in this habit he delivered
an oration to the people, when Antipater demanded of
them their orators.

Afterwards, in process of time, the Athenians decreed
nourishment to be given to the kindred of Demosthenes in
the Prytaneum, and likewise set up a statue to his memory,
when he was dead, in the market, in the year of Gorgias,6
which honors were paid him at the request of Demochares
his sister's son. And ten years after, Laches, the son of
Demochares of Leuconoe, in the year of Pytharatus, required the same honor for himself, that his statue should
be set up in the market, and that both he and the eldest
of his line for the future should have their allowance in
the Prytaneum, and the highest room at all public shows.
These decrees concerning both of them are engrossed, and
to be found among the statute laws. The statue of Demochares, of which we have spoken before, was afterwards
removed out of the market into the Prytaneum.

There are extant sixty-five orations which are truly his.
Some report of him, that he lived a very dissolute and
vicious life, appearing often in women's apparel, and being
frequently conversant at masks and revellings, whence he
was surnamed Batalus; though others say, that this was a
pet name given him by his nurse, and that from this he was
called Batalus in derision. Diogenes the Cynic espying
him one day in a victualling-house, he was very much
ashamed, and to shun him, went to withdraw; but Diogenes called after him, and told him, The more you shrink
inward, the more you will be in the tavern. The same
Diogenes once upon the banter said of him, that in his
[p. 52]
orations he was a Scythian, but in war a delicate nice
citizen. He was one of them who received gold of Ephialtes, one of the popular orators, who, being sent in an
embassy to the king of Persia, took money privily, and
distributed it among the orators of Athens, that they might
use their utmost endeavors to kindle and inflame the war
against Philip; and it is said of Demosthenes, that he for
his part had at once three thousand darics of the king.
He apprehended one Anaxilas of Oreus, who had been
his friend, and caused him to be tortured for a spy; and
when he would confess nothing, he procured a decree that
he should be delivered to the eleven executioners.

When once at a meeting of the Athenians they would
not suffer him to speak, he told them he had but a short
story to tell them. Upon which all being silent, thus he
began: A certain youth, said he, hired an ass in summer
time, to go from hence to Megara. About noon, when the
sun was very hot, and both he that hired the ass and the
owner were desirous of sitting in the shade of the ass,
they each thrust the other away,—the owner arguing that
he let him only his ass and not the shadow, and the other
replying that, since he had hired the ass, all that belonged
to him was at his dispose. Having said thus, he seemed
to go his way. But the Athenians willing now to hear his
story out, called him back, and desired him to proceed.
To whom he replied: How comes it to pass that ye are so
desirous of hearing a story of the shadow of an ass, and
refuse to give ear to matters of greater moment? Polus
the player boasting to him that he had gotten a whole
talent by playing but two days, he answered, and I have
gotten five talents by being silent but one day. One day
his voice failing him when he was declaiming publicly,
being hissed, he cried out to the people, saying, Ye are to
judge of players, indeed, by their voice, but of orators by
the gravity of their sentences.

[p. 53]
Epicles upbraiding him for his premeditating what he
was to say, he replied, I should be ashamed to speak what
comes uppermost to so great an assembly. They say of
him that he never put out his lamp—that is, never ceased
polishing his orations—until he was fifty years old. He
says of himself, that he drank always fair water. Lysias
the orator was acquainted with him; and Isocrates knew
him concerned in the management of public affairs till the
battle of Chaeronea; as also some of the Socratical sect.
[He delivered most of his orations extempore, Nature having well qualified him for it.]7 The first that proposed
the crowning him with a coronet of gold was Aristonicus,
the son of Nicophanes, the Anagyrasian; though Diondas
interposed with an indictment.

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